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Sensor Cleaning?

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Talk about too many cooks...

I worry only about the size of your blobs. If they are grains of sand, then a wet cleaning may drag a grain, and that's about the only thing that *could* scratch the cover glass. Only if the blobs look like dried goo would I go from blower to wet clean. The lens pen, if it works like the gel stick, is just push on lightly and pull the thing off. If it looks like sand, I'd do that first.

If you want a few dozen more opinions, post a picture of your sensor :ROTFL:

That's actually not a bad idea...

Matt
 

anyone

Well-known member
I'm even worried to use a lens pen on lenses to be honest. My thought trail is: if there is already some sort of dirt on the vlies on the lens pen, it will spread further. I thus departed from that solution for my lenses. In terms of sensor (glass) cleaning, I'd be even more careful. Truth is, scratching the sensor itself is impossible due to the protection glass. But also replacing that costs EUR 1000 at P1, so 'to be avoided'.

I'd also go for
(1) Blow the dust away.
(2) Use a gentle (!) brush. The one from the lens pen seems fine.
(3) ... I never ended up there so far, I just continued to clone-stamp. But I think I would take it to the local P1 dealer to do it. If he/she puts a scratch in it, they are oblieged to deal with the consequences.
 

gurtch

Well-known member
After reading the above comments, I probably could remove the lens, use a bright table lamp (or flashlight) and look at the sensor with a magnifying glass. I agree, the spots are large (and scary).
Dave
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
After reading the above comments, I probably could remove the lens, use a bright table lamp (or flashlight) and look at the sensor with a magnifying glass. I agree, the spots are large (and scary).
Dave
Remember, your sensor is big - 33x44. Those spots are about 1mm across. That's HUGE. You'll see them.

Also remember that the spots will be on the LOWER part of the sensor, but NOT reversed left-right. They would be rotated 180 degrees, like the ground glass in a view camera, but then you turn the camera around the vertical axis to see the sensor. That re-reverses the left-right, leaving it only flipped up-down.

Matt
 

Pemihan

Well-known member
I also used Paul C.'s link to C1 and ordered their sensor cleaning kit. Compared to others it was inexpensive at $24.98 with 30 pads and liquid cleaner.
Dave in NJ
And on top of that their cleaning cloths are the best I have ever used - period!
 

mristuccia

Well-known member
Personally I had bad experiences with those lens pens. I think they're very prone to really grab & drag something along the glass with the risk of scratching it. Moreover, they often leave very small spots over the glass. Been there, done that, never again.
A wet swab firmly adhering and coming from the very edge of the sensor is the best solution to move away anything sticking on the glass without pressing it against the surface.

Of course IMHO.
 
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gurtch

Well-known member
First, Thank you all for your help. I ended up buying a sensor cleaning kit from Capture Integration (snap shot enclosed). It has cleaning pads and cleaning fluid. Turns out the fluid is Eclipse, which I usually have on hand in a bigger bottle for lens and filter cleaning. I used an old credit card to make a spatula shaped tool, which is in the snapshot. I made 7 attempts to clean the sensor (actually I used each swab twice, once on each side of the pad, for a total of 14 cleaning cycles). The results in a nutshell: situation much improved, but still not perfectly clean. It turns out that the method of developing RAW files has an impact on how badly the spots show up. I use DXO Photolab 3 to develop raw images, for two reasons: 1) the excellent lens correction profiles, and 2) Photoshop CS6 will not handle GFX raw files. DXO Photolab has a feature called Clear View Plus, which can be turned on or off when processing. Since I use it almost always on my images, for more "snap" or "punch", I processed my test shots both with it applied, and not applied. I am posting 6 test images made with the Fuji 32-64mm lens at ISO 400, f20, and at 32mm, 49mm and 64mm, There are two tests t each focal length, one with Clear View Plus, and one without. Those shots made with Clear View Plus show the spots much mor vividly than those without. Ideally, I should have shot a clear gray sky, but the sky was slightly cloudy.
What do you folks think? Any ideas? I have about given up, and will need to do a little spotting on my images.
Thanks and stay safe.
Dave in NJ
MODERN PICTORIALS


C1 Sensor cleaning kit.jpg_DSF1703_32mm No CVPlus.jpg_DSF1703 32mm Clearview Plus.jpg_DSF1704_49mm No CVPlus.jpg_DSF1704_49mm ClearView Plus.jpg_DSF1705_64mm No CV Plus.jpg_DSF1705_64mm Clear View Plus.jpg
 

MartinN

Well-known member
Much better but still something there. That's a problem with sensor cleaning. Your postprocessing can accentuate something but is not the problem. The problem is still some dust / dirt.
 

MartinN

Well-known member
I take a shot inside handheld of a white screen, at Closest possible focus of the lens, and at f22 or f32 to assess sensor dust. Nothing need to be in focus so therefore handheld indoor is ok. Just close focus and small aperture and featureless white not overexposed.
 

rdeloe

Well-known member
Dave, one option you might consider is to sign up for the Fuji Professional Service for GFX. I'm about to do that because I need service on my 50R and I don't want to wait for the normal (long) turnaround. It looks like it's $499/year USD: https://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/digital_cameras/fps/index.html

That is a lot of money... However, in addition to the other services, they provide four free "Check and Clean", each of which includes a sensor cleaning. Given that you're working in areas where there's lots of salt and sand, this might save you a lot of bother in the long run.
 
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gurtch

Well-known member
Dave, one option you might consider is to sign up for the Fuji Professional Service for GFX. I'm about to do that because I need service on my 50R and I don't want to wait for the normal (long) turnaround. It looks like it's $499/year USD: https://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/digital_cameras/fps/index.html

That is a lot of money... However, they in addition to the other services, they provide four free "Check and Clean", each of which includes a sensor cleaning. Given that you're working in areas where there's lots of salt and sand, this might save you a lot of bother in the long run.
Thank you very much. A good idea.
Dave
 

msstudio

Member
I would also suggest to acquire a Loupe with built in LED so you a really spot the dust issues on the glass. After that I’m with all the suggestions, internal sensor cleaning setup, blower, brush and sensor swabs with various solutions, going back to the previous steps to see if it changed anything. It takes a bit of patiences and potentially some swabs, it it gets done in the end. And MF backs are so much easier than Mirrorless or DSLRS.
 
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